How it all began
by AnnaCipher
Summary: Just quick one shots of the Transcendence (transcendence au)
1. The feels man!

Dipper Pines is twelve years old when he gets shipped off to Gravity Falls with his sister. At first it seems like any other damp and dusty backwoods town, until books start showing up in hidden spaces underneath the grass and fake psychics start hunting for blood. Things get interesting, really interesting. There's gnomes and monsters and video game characters coming to life and Dipper can't just hide behind a book anymore because the one he's got now has him running all over the place.

Dipper is twelve when he learns what it's like to really live.

He's also twelve when he learns what it's like to die.

* * *

><p>For about a good half an hour he thinks he's still alive. He wakes up in the middle of the crater that used to be the Mystery Shack, now blown to bits. He can't remember anything more than the black vans and the lights that kept chasing him, filling him with adrenaline. He remembers thinking that he's the one who started this, so he's gotta end it. He remembers the screaming.<p>

He doesn't feel hurt, which should've been clue number one that something was wrong. He just feels confused and anxious. He's ready to jump out of his own skin.

He needs to find Mabel and everyone else. He has to make sure that they're okay.

A half an hour is how long it takes for him to find out. In that time he searches high and low, still in too much shock to notice that the trees aren't green anymore and he can't feel the ground underneath his feet. All he can concentrate on is finding his family and making sure that he did was right, whatever it was. He still can't remember that part.

They're at the diner, of all places. The place is abandoned, since everyone evacuated the town this morning. Still, it's Mabel, Grunkle Stan, Soos, and Wendy sitting in a booth and eating a tray of coffee omelette that grown cold and mushy. They're not saying anything, and don't make eye contact. Mabel is asleep, but the areas around her eyes are red and her nose is running.

Dipper can't help but rush through the door, literally. He doesn't notice, though. He's too happy to see that, except for a couple cuts and bruises, they're all okay. Everyone's _okay_.

"Guys, we did it!" he says. "We defeated Bill, we saved the day! Why are you—" He stops, noticing that no one has turned to look at him. "Why aren't you smiling?"

They don't respond. Dipper starts waving his arms. "Hey! Guys, come on. I know facing Bill on my own wasn't exactly smart, but I don't deserve the silent treatment."

Wendy goes to bring another bite of coffee omelette to her mouth, but her hand starts shaking so much the fork drops to the table, making everyone jump.

Her voice is shaky, too, as she begins to talk to Stan. "He could've…there's the possibility that…he couldn't just be…"

And it's weird, because Wendy's the most laid back person Dipper knows. But right now she's got her spine hunched up and her fingers nervously clutching the hem of her shirt. She looks like a wreck.

Soos also speaks up. He looks tired, to put it simply, and he's not smiling like he usually is. "Yeah. It's completely possible. Right, Mr. Pines?" Stan doesn't talk. "…right?"

Dipper watches the old man sigh and not make eye contact. "The kid made a reckless decision and now…" He glances towards Mabel, checking to see if she's still asleep. "Now he's paid the price. At least he ended up a hero."

"But he was here," Wendy continues. "I talked to him, like, an hour ago. Dipper can't just be _dead._"

The world freezes and tilts all at the same time. Dipper tries to shake it off, though, see it as a joke. This has to be a misunderstanding, right? After all, there was a lot of confusion and an explosion. He's just a little banged up, is all. Not dead.

Well, actually, he isn't banged up at all. He's doesn't have a single bandage on him, not even the one he had for the paper cut he got last week. Weird.

He starts laughing, in spite of himself. Part of him finds this to be a hilarious joke and the other is just trying to keep things happy and hopeful for a little moment longer. Stupid, he was so _stupid_. He should've noticed this in the first place.

"Haha, very funny. Pull a joke on the kid who just saved the whole town, maybe even the whole universe." He crosses his arms and sees that everyone has gone back to the somber expressions they had on before. Wendy's started to cry. "Oh, come on, Wendy. Don't be like that. See? Not dead." He grins, but she doesn't look up.

Dipper shakes his head. "Just…" He reaches to tap her shoulder. "Hey, look at m—" His hand phases through her like water. It feels cold and weird for a moment before he pulls his hand back. He remembers that feeling, from a time before this happened. When he got trapped in the mindscape and was a….oh. Oh, no.

Oh, god, no.

#

He follows them back to Wendy's house. Her family decided to stay behind, after all, Manly Dan doesn't just get up and run away like a sissy when the apocalypse comes. The house is almost ready to collapse, though, shaken to bits from the explosion.

"Nothing that won't be fixed, though," Wendy says. "Dad breaks the roof in half on a bi-monthly basis."

Mabel is still asleep when they arrive, and one of Wendy's younger brothers, Henry, offers up his bed so that Mabel doesn't have been put down on the floor. Stan carries her over into the small room and gives her a sad look before leaving. Dipper stays behind.

He floats, absently, and waits for her to wake up. If he gets close enough, he can feel her dreams. Like, feel the emotions that come with them. Must be a dead person thing.

But he can feel a lot of negativity and sadness in her head. He leans a little closer and hears whispers of voices he can't understand and makes out one that sounds like him, telling Mabel that he'll be back before making a cheesy joke about geometry homework. _God_ those were bad last words. He should've said something cooler.

But he didn't. And now he's really, truly dead.

It makes him want to laugh, in a sick, twisted way. He's dead. How hilarious.

But he doesn't laugh. He concentrates on Mabel's dreaming, and the screaming that comes from it. Her screams.

He's gotta do something. Acting on impulse, he reaches to take hold of her and does so without thinking. He shakes her awake, yelling her name until her eyes blink open and she groans in exhaustion.

"Wha—Dipper?" she asks sleepily. She sits up rapidly and wraps her arms around him. She would be squeezing the air out of him, if he needed to breathe. "Dipper, you giant poophead! I thought you were dead! Did you defeat Bill? Well I mean, duh, you should've. Did you see that explosion? It was, like, whoosh!"

"Ah, Mabel?" Dipper manages to say. "Mabel, I gotta-"

Mabel let's go and hops off of the bed, arms flailing. "It was so big! Like you know that mushroom Robbie drew on the water tower? It was like that."

"Mabel, there's something I need to tell you and—"

It was so loud my ears were ringing like crazy! And we all thought you were dead but now you're not and—"

"That's just it, though," Dipper interrupts. "I am."

Mabel's smile fades slightly. "Don't be silly. You're right…" She looks at him, really looks at him, and sees his feet above the ground and suddenly everything clicks. Her arms begin to shake. "But…but you can't be…"

"I am. Mabel, I didn't make it out of there."

He watches his sister start to tear up. "B-But that…you saved the day. It's supposed to be happy now, that's how it always ends in movies and stuff. You can't…and now you're dead forever that just _stinks_ and—"

"Hey, don't get like that. At least you can still see me. It'll be like I never…you know. I'll just forever be stuck in puberty." He gives a weak chuckle, hoping that the joke will make Mabel smile. It doesn't. "It's not all bad."

Mabel shrugs, wiping her nose on her sweater. "Yeah, I guess. Just…how are we gonna explain this to Mom and Dad?"

Crap. He hadn't thought about that.

"We'll burn that bridge when he get to it," he tells her. "For now I guess I'll just…keep my spirits up."

It's quiet for a moment before they're both bursting into laughter. It's nice, seeing as everything else has gone to shit.

"You're such a nerd, you nerd," Mabel chokes out between giggles. She tried to punch his harm, but ends up leaning too much into it. That causes more laughter.

Stan bursts through the door looking worried. "Is everything okay? I heard a thump."

Mabel gets up, still laughing. "I'm fine." Her giggles subside as she brushes herself off.

Stan frowns. "Have you been…laughing?"

"Heh, yeah. Dipper's being a huge dork."

Grunkle Stan's grip on the knot knob tightens and he looks down. "Um, sweetie…Dipper didn't…ah. Why don't you sit down?" She does so, slowly, and he sits next to her as Dipper floats aimlessly next to the nightstand, waiting. "You see, Mabel. Dipper did a stupid thing. A brave thing, sure, but also kinda stupid. And when people do stupid things, sometimes there's stupid consequences. You following me here?"

Mabel nods before frowning. "Is this about Dipper being dead?"

"And one of those consequences—wait, what?"

"Yeah, I know. But it's okay, though! He's a ghost, see?" She points towards him, and Dipper watches as Stan looks not at him, but the area behind him.

Mabel notices this, and plucks the glasses off of his eyes. She cleans the dirt and blood that's still around the corner before placing them back on his face. "That should help."

"I still don't see anything."

Mabel frowns. "But…" She looks to Dipper, who shrugs.

"Twin thing?" he suggests.

Mabel looks down at her knees, which are still pretty scraped up. "You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"

Stan laughs, which makes the twins jump. "Of course not, kid. You think after all we've been through I would call you crazy?" He chuckles a little before looking towards the area that Dipper's floating around. "So Dipper's right there, huh?"

"Yep," Mabel answers cheerfully.

"Well kid," he says, looking at the lamp next to Dipper. "What can I say? I told you so."

#

The next two weeks are weird, to say the least. Everyone just kind of accepts that Dipper is a ghost and things start to get better. The Corduroys get back into business a week after the Incident, seeing as a lot of people are returning from the evacuation and need their homes rebuilt. Wendy and the kid who let Mabel nap on his bed, Henry, stay behind most days to make sure that Stan doesn't end up burning the house down.

The general area is still sectioned off in order to contain the potential radiation from the explosion, which means that the Pines parents won't be able to come up for at least another month. All they know is that magic is real and their son isn't the same as he was before.

Mabel and Henry get along well, bonding over comic books and their matching pet rocks. When he's not around Mabel will gush to Dipper about everything they've done in the past day, like Dipper hasn't seen it himself because when you're dead you can't do that much.

He honestly doesn't know how that old couple at the Dusk 2 Dawn were able to do it. Sometimes he can concentrate enough to write small notes on foggy windows or mirrors, but even then he feels drained. He can't even see the color of the world anymore without getting a headache. Sometimes Wendy will write him notes and see if he can 'Ouija a message back to her'. It sucks having to have Mabel tell her that he can't even lift up a pencil.

He can do other things, though. Like, if he concentrates, he can lift up a piece of paper just by thinking it. It hurts a little, but not as much as trying to actually touch things out of the mindscape. And when its the middle of the night and everyone is sleeping, he can hear their dreams. Sometimes, if he leans in close enough, he catches glimpses of them.

He tells Mabel this, and she starts teasing him and calling him Matilda or the BFD (like the Big Friendly Giant, only for him its the Big Fricking Dork).

Still, it's unusual and Dipper wants to investigate. Mabel thinks that its nothing to worry about.

"It's probably just a ghosty thing," she reassures him.

"But what if its not? What if—what if something happened back at the Incident? What if I'm not—"

Mabel smacks her hand on his mouth. "Bwap. Don't worry, Lil Bro. You've just got special ghost powers." She gasps. "You could have a theme song!"

Dipper shoves the hand away. "It's still making me nervous. And don't call me that, I'm only younger than you by, like, five minutes."

"Yeah, well now you'll be little forever. I'll grow up to be Mabel Pines, successful businesswoman and part-time model, and you'll still do that thing where your voice gets all pitchy." She starts laughing.

"Shut up," Dipper says, but he can't help start laughing too. The idea is funny, after all. Mabel will keep getting older and he'll still be halfway through puberty for the rest of his existence.

Suddenly the idea isn't funny anymore, and they realize that simultaneously. The laughter dies down to a long period of sad silence that lasts the rest of the night.

#

It's another week before Dipper realizes that he was right after all. Something is wrong with him.

It comes in the most mundane of ways: a phone call. Specifically, one from their parents. They want to talk to their son and see that he's okay.

Stan tries to stall them for as long as possible before he gives up the act and starts telling the truth. He says that Dipper was a brave kid and did the best he could, seeing as he managed to save the world from certain chaos. Of course, with all the supernatural beings popping up out of nowhere, the world is still in chaos, but at least it isn't blown to bits. He tells them that there's no body, but he's still around and is doing alright for a dead kid.

Their parents yell and cry and they promise to be up there within the next two weeks to collect their daughter and (maybe) their son. They hang up before Stan can speak and Dipper just feels angry about the fact that he can't talk to them or _anyone_ without having Mabel as a parrot. He feels angry about Mabel acting like everything is fine and Wendy trying to reach out with no response. He's angry that sometimes Henry and Mabel will talk about him like he's not there, just like everyone else in the house. He's angry, and his whole being tingles with electricity just at the thought that their parents going to freak because _he cannot muster the energy to talk to them_.

So, like any angsty preteen, he goes on a walk (or float, maybe) into the forest to collect his thoughts.

Bad idea. Bad, _bad_ idea.

Because all those thoughts start to stew in a bad way, like rotten milk. And they make him feel anxious and sick and also sort of…alive. It's terrible. He hates it, and that just makes the thoughts even worse until he's in a clearing and he feels like he's on fire.

It takes him exactly .685 second to find out that he actually is.

The blue flames lick up his sides, crawling up his legs and burning away his skin to reveal a black, obsidian shell with cracks of gold breaking through. His hands are the same, along with his arms and feet and torso. He's something else entirely.

That is when it is time to panic.

Dipper yells and tries to rub the black and gold off to no avail. The flames have subsided to his fingertips, the familiar blue jumping t the sky before falling back down. He knows those flames, he remembers them from before the explosion, and he would know that color of gold anywhere.

He flies, searching a lake, a mirror. Anything. In the shock he doesn't notice the forest fire or the small crater he's left from where he stood.

The lake is the closest, in flying terms. He rockets for the shore and stops to hover just above the water's surface.

Dipper's eyes, they're not his. They're on him, but they don't belong to him. They seem borrowed, the whites turned as black as the rest of his body and his irises a golden. He has no pupils.

He screams, and the lake dries up.

#

Someone hears him, this time. Actually, everybody does who lives within the state of Oregon, along with some areas of Idaho and Washington. In the air, some thirty airplanes had their navigational systems go haywire for a good five minutes. Radio signals block out. And, in those deep dank caves where no one goes, creatures with no names perk up their ears in delight.

The panic attack lasts about fifteen minutes before Dipper realizes what he's done to the lake. He stares at the empty hole in wonder.

_I did that_, he thinks. _Me._

Part of him wants to start laughing. Look at all this power he has. He could do anything. He could send Gideon into an alternate dimension if he wanted. He could make the Eiffel Tower a waffle cone. He can dry up a lake with his just his screams alone, and he revels in it. He can do _anything_.

Another part is fucking terrified of himself for even thinking that.

Slowly he calms down and wills the water back into the lake. It isn't gone, really, just changed into a different form of matter. Conversation of mass and all of that. All he needs to do is reverse the change.

He stops the forest fire and lets the untapped growth within the trees unleash itself, growing new branches and leaves so it looks like it never happened.

All of that is so simple, he just has to think it to make it happen. He can feel the world, somehow, connect to it and manipulate it. All he needs to do is will it so.

Changing himself back is much more difficult, mostly because he isn't a part of this world. Eventually he gets his form right again, down to the knobby knees and ratty hat, but the eyes are still the same. He's pretty sure he won't be able to change that.

When he walks through the door (literally) Mabel rushes up to him and hugs him. "I-thought-something-happened-I-heard-a-big-scream-I'm-so-happy-you're-okay," she breathes, squeezing him tighter.

"Ah, yeah. About that, um…" It's too late, though, and Mabel's already looking at his eyes and taking a step back. "I think something happened when I died. Or didn't die. I think I kinda…leveled up? Yeah." He goes to scratch his head, only to find his hand is on fire again. He blows it out. "Heh heh. Whoops."

#

The next year is…weird, to say the least. He can talk to people now, mostly because he doesn't have to write anything so much as will up a piece of paper with words already on it. It's how he communicates with Wendy, Stan, and the Corduroys when they want to talk to him. He also finds a loophole through video games, seeing as he can just will himself inside. It's how he talks to Soos more often than not.

He also talks to them through dreams, once he gets the hang of it. The first couple instances are messy, especially when he goes to talk to Grunkle Stan and finds the guy dreaming about his Vegas vacation with Old Goldie. Dipper never, ever wants to see that again.

Him and Mabel prepare for their parents' arrival and there's a screaming match between them, Mabel, Henry (who's actually a really cool guy and will play video games with Dipper sometimes), and Grunkle Stan before Dipper can't take it anymore and blows out the lightbulb of every lamp and ceiling fan within the house. He wills himself to not go any further and takes advantage of the stunned silence to write a note on the mirror saying that he's here and he's fine. Just different. He advises everyone sleep on it and leaves it at that. In the night, he really talks to them and has to endure the heartbreak every child feels when they see their parents cry.

After everything, they move up to Gravity Falls. After all, what worth is it going to be trying to raise a demonic son and traumatized daughter in a place that's just getting used to the supernatural?

Mabel heads off to school in autumn and Dipper follow her for the first couple of weeks before realizing that he's being kind of creepy. He starts wandering at that point, practicing in the woods to see what he can and cannot do. Manipulation of reality and dreams is easy enough, but when it comes to manipulating himself he can't get a grip. It still hurts to see the world in color and he phases through walls like mist.

He can age, he finds out. After all, his appearance is simply an illusion to those around him. If he wants to thirty, he can be thirty. If he wants to be five, he can make it so. But he usually just sticks to whatever age Mabel is out of habit.

Some nights, when the moon is full and everyone is asleep, he can make himself feel the breeze. The witching hour is when nightmares are at their peak, and he feeds off of the fear that almost seems to hover around him like a swarm of gnats. It's at those moments that he feels almost human again, ironically enough. Sometimes he can be corporeal long enough that he can actually lean against a tree and watch the stars go by.

Word spreads quickly around town. Soon everyone knows that the Pines boy is still around, just not in a living sense. Legends start spouting up that if you go to the crater where the Mystery Shack used to be, you'll see him. And yeah, that's true. But it's not in a menacing way. He's just trying to help rebuild the foundation for the new one that's being put in place.

Grunkle Stan can see a big opportunity lying in wait by having the new shack where the old one was. A mysterious crater hasn't appeared in these parts since Crater Lake happened thousands of years ago. With some flooding protection (mostly magical) and help from the community (which would be short of a miracle), the Shack will be up and running in less than a year.

Everything is fine. Different, but fine. And Dipper couldn't have it any other way.


	2. The feels man part 2

Dipper Pines is fifteen years old, technically, when he gets summoned for the first time. It's by accident, in all fairness. The Clan of Brun'dash was trying to summon a lesser chaos demon, but the runes got mixed up and Dipper was pulled from an intense game of Mario Kart with Soos (which is way more fun when you're actually driving) and into a dark warehouse surrounded by candles and robed figures with a dead animal at his feet.

"What the…" he mutters. He looks down at at the circle below him which is doused in the blood of a stray cat. "Oh, _gross_."

"Almighty," one of the robed figures booms. He's on his knees and his head is looking down. He clutches a bloody knife in his hand. "We have summoned you from the depths of hell…"

Mario Kart, actually. But he was losing, so its close enough.

"…and with this sacrifice, we give thee the power to present yourself." The man tosses the knife into the circle and suddenly Dipper feels everything. He feels the air on his back and dampness of the warehouse and the breath of every living thing within the building. He can feel the warmth on the candles and he seems so utterly alive and powerful. He can touch things without having to strain himself. He can see the colors of the world. He can manipulate reality with his hands and his head. He is limitless.

The leader lifts his hood and looks up at Dipper. Not through him, but at him. And proceeds to frown. "This must be a joke," he says. "This has to be."

Dipper's momentary power surge stops short and he looks down at the little man because that's what he is. He is human and he is so, so little. "What?" he asks.

"You are not the Worganmot," he tells him.

"Uh, no, I'm not," Dipper says. "Is that important or…?"

The leader runs his hands over his face and sighs. "Mark, did you write the runes correctly?"

"Yes, sir, I'm certain," one of the figures says.

"Hand them over," the leader requests. The robed figure looks at his questioning look. "Now!"

While the follower, Mark, scrambles to get whatever he needs, Dipper looks down at his feet and the circle below him. There's fifteen candles placed around the painted circle. In which there are five runes surrounding the cat, which has to be the sacrifice. He's a demon, after all. Demons take sacrifices.

Mark and the leader squabble a bit before returning to the circle. "See?" the leaders say, pointing to the runes. "You were supposed to draw the rune for chaos, not a pine tree!"

"The author didn't have very good handwriting!"

"Well thanks to you we have the spirit of a pimply teenager instead of a demon!" the leader yells.

"Uh, excuse me," Dipper speaks up. The cult looks to him. "Hey, yeah. I'm a demon, buddy." He points to his eyes. "See?"

The leader starts laughing. "You? Please. You look like you should be working behind the counter of a fast food restaurant. You're no demon."

Dipper smirks. "Oh yeah? How about _this?_" He lets the flames eradicate all human qualities and leave behind the black-shelled creature he's become more accustomed to being. " ?"

The leader sizes him up, but keeps a vaguely unimpressed look on his face. "Fairly standard, for a demon. Do you even have a title?"

" ?"

"A title. Like Fronglir the Childslayer or Bael the Coder of Chaos. Do you have one of those?"

"U M . N O ?"

"Do you have the power to exact vengeance or make deals?"

" ? , I ' S."

"Then you are no demon worth our time," the leader says. He waves his hand vaguely in dismissal. "You can go now."

#

Henry startles when Dipper pops into existence, and it takes him a second to realize that he's running off of the energy that the sacrifice gave to him. It takes a couple minutes to calm the kid down before Dipper can explain everything. He tells them about the circle, the cult, the power. He grabs a notebook and doodles what he can remember of the runes and how the sacrifice was positioned while he continues on about the leader's fairly rude comments about him not being demonic enough.

"No offense, Dipper, but you aren't exactly 'scary' material," Henry tells him.

"Hello?" Dipper asks, referring to his inhuman display. "Isn't this kind of freaky?"

"Eh?" Henry shrugs. "Cool, but not scary. Maybe if you had a cool shadow thing going."

"Oh oh! And screeches," Mabel adds. "And you entered using that creepy voice you can make."

" S?"

"Yeah, but you have to say something creepy in it. Otherwise you sound like a nerd with a weird megaphone."

"H E Y !"

"And you need a new outfit," Henry adds. Dipper glares at him. "Sorry dude, but the whole camper getup isn't going to make anyone piss their pants."

"And there's the name thing," Mabel says. "You don't want someone knowing your actual name. That could end pretty bad."

She was right. True names, now that magic was a widely recognized phenomenon, held much more power than they did before. He couldn't just hand his out.

Dipper sighs. "I never thought I would say this," he mutters. He looks up. "Mabel, I need a makeover."

#

"How long you do think you'll be like this? Y'know, all solid 'n' stuff."

"I don't know. Maybe an hour, maybe twenty minutes. It wasn't that big of a sacrifice, so it can't be for long."

Mabel hums. "We'll have to work quick, then."

The entrance whole entrance deal is a quick fix. Just add some lighting, some sound effects, and an occasional agonizing screech and soon Dipper feels like he can scare the shit out of any living creature he encounters.

The wardrobe is trickier.

"What if you came in like a cool demon cowboy?" Mabel suggests. "That's pretty scary."

Dipper laughs. "Ahhhh…no. Any other ideas?"

"Maybe you could be like a classic biker demon," Henry suggests. "With a leather jacket and a motorcycle made of skulls."

Dipper snaps his fingers. "Yeah! Here, let me try it." He snaps his fingers and will his clothes to change into something more suitable. "How about it? Huh, huh?" He wills up a motorcycle and lets the wheels ride in motion at reality spins around it, making Mabel and Henry fly across the room.

There's a lot of moaning and groaning before the two can sit up. "Too spinny…"

Henry nods weakly. "Agreed."

Dipper pouts before an idea hits him. He grins. "I got it!" With another snap his clothing morphs into something else entirely, still black as the void but more formal and business-like. He even adds a top hat for good measure. "Everyone will want to make deals if I'm like this."

He's met with silence. In the past this hasn't been a good thing.

He blinks and looks down to them. "Guys? I didn't phase back into the mindscape, did I?"

"N-No," Henry reassures him. "You didn't. You just kind of…um…"

"You look like him, Dipper," Mabel finishes.

Dipper chuckles nervously. "Like who?"

Mabel doesn't say anything, just points to the mirror.

At first he doesn't see it. Why would he? All he can think right now is that he looks dapper as hell and ready to make a couple deals at half price. It's only when he singles out the pieces of the outfit—the suit, the hat, the tie—that he sees what Henry and Mabel have been seeing. Horrified, he inadvertently shatters the mirror and goes back to wearing the same outfit he's had on him ever since he died.

"No, no. I'm not…I'm not him. I ' M N O T."

Henry moves to put a hand on his shoulder. "Dipper, buddy, you gotta—"

"I ' L. ' M. H E ' ' ' ' S—"

Dipper's interrupted from his (really unprofessional) panic attack by Mabel, who slaps him and grips his face like they're five years old again and she wants to know who stole her candy bars from Halloween. "Listen to me, Dipper Pines, you will get a grip. You are not Bill, he is not going to take over, but so help me god I will do the same thing you did to him if you don't calm down and realize that you've got more than just his powers and you and I both know this."

Dipper lets himself take a couple breaths that he doesn't need and gulps. "What do you…?"

She sighs. "C'mon, bro. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

He thinks about that part of himself, the eensy bit that wants to laugh at other people's screams and dance on destruction. The part that isn't scared to death at the power he holds in his hands because it's used to it. It's known it for a long, long time.

He keeps the suit.

#

The name is where it gets really, really tricky. Dipper's spent years trying to let his nickname stick so that he wouldn't have to hear his birth name over and over again (seriously, who names their kid Cyprus?) and he's kind of feeling uneasy about making up a whole new name to be called.

By this time Dipper's popped out of existence, which is really inconvenient seeing as he's the one who needs to say yay or nay on this. They go back to the house, Henry in tow, and Dipper floats around Mabel's head.

"Come on Mabel, please?"

"Dipper! I am not hurting an innocent little animal just so that you can be visible."

"But think about how happy mom and dad would be! And it wouldn't have to be innocent, really, just like a rat. Or something. I just need another hour so that you're not telling Henry I'm using Double Dipstick as my title."

She giggles. "Yeah, I would do that. But I'm not making a summoning circle for you, Dipper. That's for creepy old guys and Gideon. Bluh."

"Just a rat. It would take, like, ten minutes to make and rats aren't even that cute."

"Excuse me! Rats are adorable."

Henry waves his hand. "Uh, Mabel? Not to be 'that guy', but it's kind of embarrassing being the third wheel to your dead brother."

Mabel sighs. "He wants me to make a summoning circle for him and make a sacrifice so he can be all visible-y again. But I'm not gonna do it! I'm not hurting some poor, innocent little rat."

Henry grimaces, but quickly recovers. "Yeah, okay. I get it." He looks around the room. "I can do it."

Both Mabel and Dipper turn to stare at him. Henry is still shorter than Mabel, at this point, with fluffy red hair that sticks out at odd ends. He wears blocky glasses that make his eyes two times too big and he's got freckles that start on his forehead and stretch to his forearms. He's wiry, too, and a black sheep in the family considering that whenever he speaks it's quiet and reserved.

And here he is, saying he's going to kill a rat so a demon can exit the mindscape and help them Google search a cool new name for himself.

Dipper would be even more damned if he wasn't impressed with his sister's choice in guys.

Gravity Falls is miles of woods, so it isn't hard to find a rat if you set the trap at the right spot. Their parents don't even bother when Mabel goes in looking for a knife, paint, and about fifty-something candles. She just says that it's 'Dipper stuff' and they go back to watching the news.

The basement is a good place, all dark and mysterious. Dipper makes sure Mabel draws in the runes right and places the correct number of candles before hovering in the back so that Henry can do the job with the rat. Mabel covers her eyes, and Dipper watches intently. He throws it into the center, but nothing happens.

"Maybe you gotta say something?" Mabel suggests. She has one eyes peeking out between her fingers.

"Uh," Henry drawls. "Almighty demon Dipper Pines, I summon thee?"

The pull is weaker than that the leader of the cult used, but it's enough at Dipper is naturally drawn into the circle. Henry throws the knife in as well, making sure that all the blood resides in the space inside the runes. Dipper feels the cold air of the basement on his cheeks and sees dark blues for shadows.

"Hey, would you look at that?" he muses. "Good job."

Henry shrugs. "You should've tried practicing your entrance, man. Just saying."

"Oh, right," Dipper says, slapping his hand to his forehead. "Duh."

Mabel takes her hands away from her face. "It's done, right?" Henry nods, and she quickly turns away from the scene. "Alright let's go no more dead things."

The two are already halfway up the stairs when they realize that Dipper isn't with them. It takes away another two seconds for them to find out he's hanging right above them with a grin on his face.

#

"Mabel, I said I was sorry!"

"Not funny, Dipper."

"It was totally funny."

"Man, jokes are funny. Puns are funny. Animals in human clothes is funny. That was creepy, dude."

"Whatever, Henry. I happen to think that I am hilarious."

"You're glad I didn't tell on you to Mom and Dad."

"Like that would do anything. Mabel, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a high-class demon with the ability to warp dimensions. I can make your sweetest dream into your worst nightmares, I don't get scared by—"

"MOOOOOOOMMMMM DIPPER'S BEING A JERK WITH HIS DEMON POWERS!"

"WAIT NO MABEL DON'T—"

#

After some shocked expressions and rifling through some demonology texts that Stan's lent Mabel from the Mystery Shack, their parents have successfully put Dipper in the demonic equivalent of a time-out, AKA a binding spell that has Dipper trapped in the corner of him and Mabel's room.

"This is stupid," Dipper says. "It was just one prank."

Henry does that thing where he kind of stares blankly, but also manages to glare at him. "I fell down the stairs."

"And it was hilarious! Come on."

Henry does the stare-glare again. "You're acting like a five year old."

Dipper smirks before shifting into just that. He sticks out his tongue before coming back to his previous form. "I can also be forty if you want."

Henry sighs and Dipper turns his attention to Mabel.

"You thought it was funny, right sis?" He's met with silence again. "Sis?"

Mabel glares at him before going back to the demonology texts before muttering something.

"What?" Dipper asks. "Sorry, didn't hear that."

"Dipper, you don't sound like yourself," she tells him. "You sound…you sound like Bill."

He snorts. "What? Bill?"

"Yeah, and it's creeping me out. I need you to pull yourself together, bro-bro. It's scaring me."

He shakes his head. "Shooting Star, you've gotta be kidding me. I am _not_—"

He grins fades and he starts floating lower and lower to the ground until he's sitting on the floor. Oh god, he is. He is acting like Bill and he hasn't even _noticed._

That power ritual from before was too much. Now he knows what potential power he has, what it feels like. And that part of him he wants to go away likes it. Feeds off of it.

He doesn't like this. He doesn't like this at all.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I didn't mean to—actually, I did. And I'm sorry."

It's quiet for a few minutes before Mabel smiles at him. "It's okay. You're not used to the demon-y stuff. And we gotta find you a name. How do you like Dippzelbub the Perpetual Dork?"

#

Alcor the Dreambender. After eight hours of intense research through demonology and astrology books, they end up with Alcor. The fuller title, because apparently demons need those too, is Alcor, Companion of the Northstar and Manipulator of Nightmares, Sired From the Death of Bael the Coder of Chaos, Former Manipulator of Nightmares, Who Takes Residence In the Dimension Where Nightmares Spawn. That's the title for all of the cult leaders to use, because most of them are pompous assholes anyway and Dipper wants to see them work for it. Anyone who truly knows him will know him as Alcor the Dreambender, nothing more. Except for maybe Dipper, or Sir Dippingsauce. Those are also possibilities.

Now he just has to wait for another Clan of Brun'dash incident to get the word out. If all else fails Grunkle Stan can advertise for him at the. Mystery Shack. For a small, slightly illegal fee, of course.

#

He's helping Grunkle Stan with some jump scare stuff at the Mystery Shack (what? it's fun and Stan doesn't mind getting rid of his mice problem to make sure customers can tell their friends they got scared shitless in the Mystery Shack's Hallway of Horror) when he feels the tug that tells him he's being summoned. It's farther away, past Gravity Falls and maybe even across the country. He can stay, if he wants. After getting summoned by Mabel, Stan, and Henry repeatedly he learned some loopholes (living sacrifices last longer, but items like candy and ice cream do just as well and it means Mabel doesn't have to kill anything), but he figures that he better answer this one. It could be his big break.

When he enters, he covers himself in a dark shroud of shadows. Screaming shadows, to be exact, along with faces of agony and the occasional maniacal laugh.

" ?" he booms. " R, R. E E." He laughs again before peeling off the cloak of shadows in a burst of flame, revealing the fractured obsidian shell underneath as the cracks begins to glow brighter. "I C A N—"

He looks down to see the face of a girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, with tears streaming down her face.

"Wrong," she mutters to herself. "I got it wrong, _damn it_."

The sound effects subside and finds himself burning on a new, more human skin. "Are you—are you okay?"

She looks up at him. "Please don't hurt me. I didn't mean to make this happen. I just needed to make him go away, and my friend said that this Worganmot guy could help me if I exchanged something." She starts crying again. "But I must've done something wrong because now you're here and please don't kill me I'm sorry I took up your time I just…oh, god." She lets out a ragged breath. "I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

Dipper looks down at the circle below his feet, in the center another dead cat. Less disgusting than last time, but still gross. "You got the runes wrong," he points out. "The tree is my symbol. The other guy has the one for chaos."

The girl puts her face in her hands. "Ugh. I knew it wasn't a pine tree. Damn it. I'm going die because I've got bad drawing skills."

Dipper frowns. "Wait, what? No, no. You aren't going to die."

She sniffles. "I'm not?"

"You think I'm heartless? You made a mistake, I'm not going to punish you for that. 'To err is human' and whatever." He frowns. "So who is he?"

"What?"

"You said you wanted to 'make him go away'. Make who go away?"

"My ex-boyfriend. He keeps sending me all these photos of me in my house or my room and he says we'll be 'together until the end of time' over and over whenever I come in contact with him. I'm fucking scared and I just want him gone."

"How gone?" Dipper inquires. He starts floating up and down the circle, seeing as he can't go anywhere else until the ritual is completed. Otherwise he'll become invisible again. "Like gone-gone or scared-off-gone?"

"Scared off," she tells him. "I could never…I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life having that with me."

Oh, and it'll be a long one, too. Which each summoning he grows more powerful, and he can see so much more. If he squints, he can see every possible instance of her dying. The one that's got the most going for it is the one where she dies in her sleep in her late eighties, alone in a hospital bed when it happens but mourned by family in the morning. It's a good death.

"Okey-dokey, then," he says. He leans his hand towards the barrier of the circle. "How about you and I make a d—aw, shit." He reaches too far, and his hand turns slightly more see-through than the rest of him. The girl (Daisy, he can see) recoils in shock. "Don't worry, nothing to get all up in arms about." He laughs at his own joke, but she doesn't. "Tough crowd. I need you to throw in that knife if you want to make a deal."

Daisy looks at him with panic. "How can I trust you? You're names not in the text, and you're a_demon_, for crying out loud. That's 'do not trust' 101."

"Yeah, but I'm a _nice_ demon," he explains. It doesn't faze her. "Look, back when I was alive I got screwed over by supernatural thing in the book. Literally. I'm not going to trick you. Just throw in the knife. All of the blood has to be in the circle for this to work."

Daisy toys with the knife in her hands before sighing and throwing it in. The surge is greater than anything a packet of Skittles or a mouse could get him. He had forgotten how much power a bigger sacrifice got him, no matter how gross.

Dipper lets his feet touch the ground and walk across the barrier. Flames climb up his arms as he rolls his shoulders, suddenly corporeal and achey. He stretches his arms. "Much better. Being an intangible being can get really tiring, y'know?" Daisy's face scrunches up in confusion. "Oh, yeah. Guess you don't. Anyway, what say you and me do a fair trade? I scare off your creepy ex and you give me…like, three months of your life?"

Daisy takes a step back. "You sound unsure."

Dipper shrugs. "Well, okay. I haven't exactly made a deal before. I'm kinda new to the whole scene. But I know the basics from a lot of reading so it shouldn't go wrong?" Daisy takes another step back. "It won't. Trust me, it won't. But that seems like a fair trade, right? I do some cool tricks to make he never comes near you again and I get three months of your life force. Which isn't that much, seeing as you're mostly likely going to live until you're around 87."

Her face lights up. "I am?"

He makes a so-so gesture. "Call it 87 and a month, more or less, if this deal goes through."

Daisy nods, and thinks it over for a couple moments before extending her hand. "You've got a deal."

Dipper grins and shakes her hand. He can feel the life strip away from her, even though it's only a small fraction, and flow into him. With that kind of energy he could will himself corporeal for the next month, at least. He bows his head. "It was nice doing business with you, Daisy."

He disappears in a flash of fire and black brick, and for a few moments Daisy is alone again with a dead animal in her mom's garage. She's going to have to clean that up before she and her boyfriend return from Cabo.

There's pop, and suddenly the demon from before is back, adjusting his suit and fishing through his pocket. "Hey, sorry. Forgot to give you this." He hands her a business card, of all things, that has a long ass title starting with the name 'Alcor' on it in…glitter puff paint? He waves. "Tell your friends I'm open for business. See you around!"

#

Chris Barnes is walking down the street to his house, jingling the keys in his hand, when he sees the eyes. They're yellow and empty and at first he thinks he's still high from this morning when he sees them in the bushes. When they start following him is when he figures he must be really tripping or something is wrong.

He concludes that something is really, _really_ wrong when the eyes show up in front of him.

"Listen," he says. "I'll give you my money, my clothes, anything. I don't want to cause any trouble."

"I think you've caused enough trouble already," the figure says. It moves to step out of the shadows, but the shadows move with it instead. They stick to it, writhing over golden cracks like snakes. "Daisy, for example. I think it's high time you left her alone."

Chris grasps his keys tighter. "No. She's mine, she'll always be mine. You can't take her!"

The figure's face grimaces in exhaustion. "I wasn't planning to. I'm just doing a favor for her. You see, I've had experiences with guys like you and you're just all the same. You never leave the girl alone and don't know the meaning of the word 'no'."

Chris's eyes widen as the figure advances , the shadows growing with each step. "Who are you?"

The figure zooms forward, the shadows peeling off to reveal the Cheshire grin of a kid with strange eyes and black shadow still clinging to his cheeks.

" ." He grabs the man's shirt, almost revels in the fact that he can touch this creep and see the terror on his face in living technicolor. "D O N ' , . U."


	3. Another story

60 MINUTES

Finally, after all these years. Countless centuries of nudging along humanity, patience, aligning the stars and planets and galaxies, getting tiny bits of entertainment by hundreds of humans, all never at once, patience, the years of waiting for an opportunity, and it all will pay off.

Gravity Falls, a good name, and it will soon come true. All of his realm will merge with the physical realm, and it will be so much FUN. The demon chuckled to himself, the clock was ticking down, and he couldn't wait.

"Mabel, where's Grunkle Stan and Wendy?" Dipper asked, his voice one of panic. After the hours of studying the journal, and using that blacklight, the twins had cracked the code behind Bill Cipher, a nasty but snappily dressed dream demon capable of who knows what.

"Dip they're getting the rest of the stuff from the car, don't worry. We've got like, a bazillion people here, we'll be fine." His sister said nonchalantly. "Mabel, we have almost half the town with us, and that won't be enough. Bill is going to be stronger than ever, and we need everyone's help."

They had everything, a leaf blower, holy water, salt, the karaoke machine, the journals, the hints from Stanley, Mabel's grappling hook, Waddles, and a good twenty people backing them up. Maybe, just maybe, this would work.

Grunkle Stan would lead one group to distract Bill, Wendy would lead another group pretending to be the group that Dipper would lead, which would be the actual group that threw off the demon's plans and saved the world. Grunkle Stan, dressed in his usual suit save for his fez and eyepatch, carefully led the way, while Wendy and Dipper snuck around the back.

"Gonna reign chaos across the four dimensions, gonna do it today, yessir, I'm gonna bask in the confusion, gonna do it today." Bill hummed to himself as his clock struck down.

30 MINUTES

"Hey, I'm talking to you, you obnoxiously yellow triangle!" A voice rang out. A yellow slitted eye scanned the perimeter. "Over here you glorified shape!" The familiar voice rang yet again. The demon swirled around to meet his accuser, Stanford Pines. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Stan Pines, the lovely old chap whose mind I had to invade not too long ago. How's everything been? Has the weather been kind?" Bill laughed, an ever present demonic undertone ringing in his voice.

"Face it punk, we're not letting you stir up any more trouble." The man's gruff tone made Bill let out a fake gasp. "Watch your tone mister, we don't want any- Hey what are you doing?!" He whipped around to face Wendy Coduroy, who appeared to be reciting something in Latin. The searing burn of holy water made the demon angry.

"Sto͟p̢ ͠i̛t!" His body illuminated the darkening sky with a furious red glow. "I don't like that." He said calmly, his tone betraying his appearance. With one hand, he continued the plans like normal, and the other hand held a shrieking ball of lighting, barely contained in his enormous fist. Without a word, he struck several people at random with the sparks.

10 MINUTES

"Go faster Dipper!" Mabel whispered, tugging at her brother's sleeve and pointing to the destruction happening not 50 feet away from them.

"I'm going as fast as I can Mabel, this takes time!" He whisper-yelled, quickly etching on the page with the salt/cursed berry solution, just as the journal said. If done right, when burned, the paper will damage Bill enough to buy time for the chant, which should distract the demon, who will end up being unable to complete the ritual for mixing the two realms, the world will be saved, hooray hooray.

But it didn't work out like that.

Just like that, a spark of lighting struck the page, and it burned incomplete. It was only when the demon felt the dull, aching burn inside his being that he turned enough to see Dipper, with the third group. Wait, if Coduroy's group wasn't doing the ritual, and Stan Pines's group was just a distraction, that ment that he had been tricked. The humans thought they could trick Bill, a well-known and powerful dream demon. How could they?!

60 SECONDS

Y̶̼̼o̪̺̤ͅu̗̺̰͎͓̦̫ ̜͚t̖̙̟̦͙̖ͅr̴̟̞͚͎i͇̘͖̼c͢k̨͎e̡͇̥͔ḑ̖̣̬̗ͅ ͙͎̤͘m͚̹̥̭̲̦͡e̫̭̲͖̥̯͙!̜̯̦͉͇͈̠ ̭͔̤͈͉̖̟O̝͔͙̖h̤̝ ͉͖y̸̰̗͎̠̻̲ou̴͉̻̗'̞͍͔̬r̜̘̰̠̼̬e̖̠̣̗͢ ̹͠g̫̮͡o҉͔̘i̩͝n̟̫̹͝g͇̟̦͙͕̗̺ ̥̼̬̦̘͈to̧̱ ҉̭p̨͓͚a̟̝͔̫͡ͅy̼̹̞̳̻̯̭,̴̭͇̬̺̪̜ ̱̳͚͚y̵͔̗̻̹͓̖͎o͞u̳͙̳̱͚̙ ̙͘A̖̟̪͍͍͝ͅL̶̖͎L͎̳͍̤̦ ͔̦ͅW͚͖͖Į͉̟̫̤̝LL̴ ͚͡Ṕ͙̳̠͖͓̠A̯͎Y͖̭͖̯! With a wave of his hand, every living being floated weightlessly towards him, unable to move away from his grasp.

"The chant! Everyone yell the chant!" Someone cried. "Magnus daemon obligantes, unde veneras te in regnum bestiae foedae!" Over and over the phrase was chanted, drowning out the demon's growls and shrieks.

30 SECONDS

He dropped everyone, and clutched his eye. S̵̴̢͚̮͎̤̜̩̏̆͊̇t̺̫̐̍͒͘͜o̼̬̙̽ͦ̍̍̓̈̑̚̚͜͡p͇͖͖̤̰͑͂̆ͨ̓̓ ̡͓̩͕̲̖̞̺̝͉̑͛́͞S̲͕̠̟̻̳͕̈̋̑̽ͦ̕Ț̸̡̡̬̭̓̿ͥͩ̒͋ͥ̾̒Ȯ̖̲͡P̜̹̪̙̲̼̝̤͒̓͛̄͗̚ ̠̜̿̀S̨̙̏̍̂͐ͬ̅ͣ̽̒͟T̷̤̘͚̥̲͎̠́ͭͪ̈̋O̲͎̟̲̟̽͢͝P̜̭͑̍ͫͥ̚ͅ ̥͉̦̤̇͋̉ͯ̅ͣ̈͑̀̚S̵͔̝͓̄̓ͨͬͩ͒͆̀ͨ͢T̝̹̙̐͌̽͌Ŏ̧̠̜̫̦͕̂̆͢͞P̸̑̅ͯ̉̋͏̪̠̜̺̙͢ ̍҉̼S̶̮̹͍̭̤̰͎̟̼̿͑͑̌̅̅ͧ̅Ṫ͚̟ͬ̿̃͝Ơ̸͍̞͈̞̦̩̜̿ͧ̐͝P͈͉͕̤͕͉̯̈́ͮ́!͔̱̦̻̣̱̮͙̹̈̈́̔͋̇ͮͧ͗ He waved his hand back and forth, messing with the alignments he had worked on. The planets were almost out of order.

10

"Dipper it's not working! "Mabel yelled. "Just keep doing it!" Dipper yelled back.

9

The demon froze all who were chanting's mouthes and shut them.

8

"Yes, yes it's going to work after all!" He giggled.

7

Giggling, followed by maniacal laughing.

6

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU THOUGH YOU COULD STOP ME!"

5

"Hey Bill, look over here!" Was that a voice?

4

The demon turned to see the Pines twins chanting that cursed Latin.

3

"NO!" Bill screamed curling his fists and losing focus.

2

"Look at your plan now!" Bill turned to see his portal rapidly closing, despite his best efforts.

1

The portal closed. Dead silence, followed by the deafening explosion of said portal.

After collapsing on itself, it exploded with energy, breaking the barrier of magic in Gravity Falls and sending it all around the world. As for inside the town, it looked as though an atomic bomb went off in the outer ridges of the woods.

In the center of the crater was the twenty or so people who stopped the end of the world, and the demon who caused it all. Bill, who received the full blast of the portal, was in bad shape. Even for a demon of his greatness, a blow with that much energy was sure to kill him, and he wasn't happy about that.

Dang this hurts, and this isn't funny. I need something. What do I need? A body? Yes. But where? Where can I find a suitable one? Bill dragged himself to inspect the people who lay nearly unconscious with him. His eye fell on a particular boy with a blue hat with a pine tree on it, and he formed a plan.

With a final burst of energy, the demon floated quickly to the boy and forced himself into the body, but something went wrong. He wasn't strong enough to take control, and now he was stuck, unable to move when a white hot pain bolted through his body.

It wasn't supposed to hurt, but man did it hurt. It felt like he was being skinned alive, then set on fire with boiling acid. Bill couldn't believe how hard Dipper was holding on, or maybe he was too weak to properly possess him, who knows? All the demon felt just before he withered away was Dipper's will to keep his mind, and himself drifting away into the void.

Dipper had won, and he lay in the wake of the battle somewhere in a giant crater, with his twin nowhere in sight. He saw a quick glow of yellow before feeling it. Pain, excruciating, digging under his skin and muscle. It hurt so badly, someone must have ripped out his insides, melted them away with poison and acid, shoved them back into him, and used stabbing him repeatedly as a way of sewing him back together. It made torture look like paradise. Then, black.

Mabel woke to the sound of screaming, not just any scream, but a bloodcurdling, someone-is-dying, this isn't a joke scream. It was Dipper's voice. Her heart was pounding in her ear, her blood was ice. She had to find him, she had to.

She could hear the shriek ringing in her head, and knew he had to be dead or dying if he ever made a sound like that. Despite her best efforts, she could not find her brother. If she couldn't find him, maybe he really was…No! He was alive, he had to be.

Maybe he found the others, and she just imagined the horrible, nightmare-inducing cry for help. It wasn't until Grunkle Stan confirmed that he had heard it and couldn't find Dipper that she started crying. She asked everyone, Soos, Wendy, Old Man Mcgucket, Lazy Susan, even Robbie. No, none of them had seen him, and they all heard it.

Her sobs were the only sound that echoed across the destroyed landscape. The tears washed her face, making it sticky and shiny. She sobbed harder than she ever had in her life, and ever would. Her brother was dead, he had to be, and she couldn't even say goodbye or see him. He died that day, and she had heard his last sound. _

The next day, Mabel was still searching, she would have all night if Grunkle Stan didn't make her sleep. She didn't sleep though, she just sat there, alone. She wouldn't rest until they had either found him, or his body was found.

Finally, at noon, she found him, lying in his normal outfit that had been ripped to shreds. Mabel slowly walked towards him, before resting her head on his chest and listening for his comforting heartbeat that… Wasn't there.

His heart wasn't beating, oh god was he dead?! "Dipper? DIPPER CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" She yelled, shaking him.

No answer, just a low groan. Mabel's eyes shone with so much happiness they should have burst. Even if he answered in a groan, he was alive, alive and breathing, and that's all that mattered.


	4. The start

Hurt.

Everything hurt.

But considering that the lack of pain would have meant that Dipper was dead, he would take it.

He lay on the ground, heaving and panting, struggling to take in air.

His ribs hurt and his chest and his throat and everything hurt.

But it was over, it was done, Bill hadn't won. In fact-Dipper looked over to where the massive backlash of energy had knocked the demon out of the air-Dipper thought he may even be…dead?

Well, if not dead, then dead soon.

He moved his head back where it was before, keeping his sister firmly in his line of sight. Mabel had gotten a knock on the head and was currently passed out but otherwise was fine.

Dipper was…he had a feeling he wasn't as fine. There was an awful lot of blood on him and he was scared to even think about moving, but neither did he actually think he was _dying_.

Sure the world was, from what Dipper had gathered from Bill's ranting, drastically changed and life as he knew it was pretty much over and a new world order would be in place, but other than that everything was going to be okay and-

"Kid, you look _terrible_."

Dipper knew better than to sit straight up because he was pretty sure one or more of his ribs were broken, but he turned his head towards the direction of _that_ voice.

It was Bill. But he looked…well, he looked terrible too. He wasn't bright shining gold any more, more like a tarnished, sickly looking yellow-green. There were massive holes in his body, bricks fallen out and drifting away from him, and his eye was half swollen shut. His hat was missing and his bow tie was askew.

"So…so do you," Dipper managed to get out.

Bill looked over him, floating over to Dipper though he was almost touching the ground.

"Hmmm…five broken ribs, broken leg, significant blood loss, future lung cancer…nothing I can't fix however."

"Wha-Bill, face it, you _lost_."

Bill laughed, ugly and grating against Dipper's ears. It was a shadow of his former laugh, without its echoes, but somehow it scared Dipper more than it ever had before.

"Pine Tree, let me tell you something you still haven't gotten through your puny brain. _**I͚̥.͖̺̝̞̣ ̰Ṉ͜e̹͎̖̲͉̻͇v͍͚̰̥͚͉e̺̩͕̩͇͠ͅr͉̪̯̖̤͈̤.̶̪̙͕̬̣̥ ̵̙͙̱͍̫̳̦L̦͔̞ͅo͜s͔e̦͎̠͚̦. ̯͇**_"

He was hovering above Dipper now. "And your body would be a _perfect_vessel for me to use! You fleshy types don't really appreciate your connection to this realm any way."

"You…you can't do that! We don't have a deal!"

This did seem to give Bill pause for a second, and Dipper thought (perhaps foolishly, but he had lost a lot of blood) that he was safe.

But Bill shrugged and Dipper's blood ran cold. "Maybe not, but I need that body more than you."

Then Bill thrust his hand into Dipper's chest, and tried to rip the soul from Dipper's body.

Tried being the operative word because Dipper refused to budge.

"Kid, just give it up and _le͟a̷v̧e̢_ already."

Dipper spat at Bill in response.

Bill phased into Dipper's mind, sending them both to the Mindscape. Sure the kid had a point about the contract and this _probably_ wouldn't work but he was dying, him, an immortal being of terror and might and he coul-

Bill's train of thought was interrupted by a punch to his eye.

Bill fell to the ground and Pine Tree stood over him.

"It's _over_ Bill."

Bill put his hands (such as they were) and sunk roots deep into Pine Tree's mind, into his body, rooting himself in to this vessel. The human in front of him began to flicker on and off, losing grasp of his body despite his best efforts (and Bill could feel them, like a frantic bird beating against the bars of a cage.)

Bill felt his confidence begin to come back. Sure he was only mere moments from death, but so was Pine Tree moments from vacating the premises and letting him in. Bill _had_ this!

"Don't worry Pine Tree!" he sing-songed to the soul in front of him. "I'll take good care of everyone while you're gone. Especially that sister of yours. I owe her for that circle she drew earlier. I'll take _real ̨͎̼̬̪̗͚̞g̦͔͈̠ͅoo̗̣̺̮͕ͅd̮̲͎͓̲ ͈͕̣͚̲c͇͍͕͚̜͖ͅa̩͍̟̦̪͍__**r̬̱̙͙̱ͅe̟͚͘ ͓̜̗͓̼̩͟ơ͙̘͈̯̤̰̖f̩̲̻ ̙̱̀h͉è̲̠͙̠͉̱̥r̩͎̠̖̯̫̀.̲́"**_

Dipper froze and despite Bill's confidence, a trickle of doubt trickled down their spine (because Bill was too rooted in this body now to escape, even if he could, it was now or never, possession or death).

Dipper looked around him, almost as if realizing for the first time where he was. He looked at Bill's hands, and then his own.

Bill had to put in roots, he could feel them in their body, dark and twisted and wrong.

But this was his body first.

And he would never let it or Bill or anyone else ever, _ever_ hurt Mabel.

Dipper wasn't sure how to describe what he did, even afterwards, all he knew was that he began to pull.

Bricks began to fly away from Bill's façade, and Bill's swollen eye turned red.

"_**N̘̬̱̪̦ͮ̐̚O̰̬̦̣͂ͬͩ̅̍!"**_

Distantly, Dipper felt Bill try and dig deeper, insert himself more into their body, but for every root Bill put down, Dipper pulled again, pulled and pulled even as he felt distantly blood pool out on the ground in the real world, heard like echoes underwater the sound of Mabel coming to, saw Bill disintegrate faster and faster in front of his eyes.

Dipper was probably going to die doing this.

But if it meant ridding this new world of Bill once and for all, meant keeping Mabel safe, then it was worth it.

Dipper gave one last, almighty _pull_ and tore Bill's soul out of their-no, _his_-body.

(the last thought Bill Cipher had before death was less a thought and more a look ahead of what lie in store for Dipper Pines. If he had time he would have laughed himself sick. As it was, he went into the dark satisfied that he had possibly unleashed even more chaos on the world than if the possession had actually worked.)

Dipper fell back onto the ground, sitting up and watching with satisfaction as the remnants of Bill melted into a puddle.

Then the puddle sunk into the ground, into the dirt, into his body.

Too late did Dipper remember about the changes that Bill had been pushing through his body, the new pathways and channels coursing through him, and then _that_ and-

Suddenly, it felt like everything was burning and Dipper knew no more.

(Mabel never, ever spoke about the Transcendence. The actual event itself.

To her dying day she remembered the screams that had ripped out of her brother's throat.

She never wanted to hear anything like that ever again.)


End file.
